There’s a saying in our industry that Americans spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do their retirement.
Now most people probably hear that and think it’s a bad thing. But I look at it differently: You’ve got better things to do with your time today than worry about your financial picture. That’s where I come in.
Retirement often takes center stage as the ultimate financial goal in this industry. And rightfully so — investing today helps to ensure a stable tomorrow when paychecks ultimately stop arriving in our checking accounts. As financial professionals, guiding our clients towards this pivotal moment is a significant aspect of our work.
Just as important as tidying up your home is taking a closer look at your finances. We’re between the rush of the holidays and the excitement of summer break, so now is the perfect time to make sure your money is doing its job in those hard-to-reach places.
At FFP, we take a bulk of that work off of our clients, prepping and sending documents directly to them and their CPA. We take a very coordinated approach to this — we don’t want the client to have to be the middleman. It’s simple for me to jump on a conference call with a CPA and make sure everybody’s on the same page and we have an open line of communication.
Since the pandemic, more and more people have been sitting on higher cash reserves than they used to, and the current interest rate environment has provided a unique opportunity to grow that cash relatively safe and low risk. In this edition of Dave’s Inbox, I wanted to address a couple of questions I’ve gotten repeatedly.
As a wealth advisor, I have many conversations with young and more seasoned families (not old; age is just a number) who are interested in what I do but have one major misconception about investing: You need a lot of money to start.
As expected, the first few days of the year started with everyone selling off the stocks that did so well last year — large-cap tech. We did the exact same thing in our own investment accounts. The reason is simple — any gains from the start of January don’t have to have taxes paid on them until April 2025, and some of these stocks went up 50% or more in 2023.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve made it to the end of another year. Amidst the hustle of the holidays, I want to encourage you to stay diligent about your financial plan. Here is a little end-of-year to-do list that will help set you up for continued success in 2024.
With the new year comes New Year’s resolutions, and rather than telling you all about mine (you’re welcome), I thought I would set some resolutions for the American economy in 2024.
Unless you’re one of those “wrapped and done by December one” people, you probably have some names left uncrossed on this year’s Christmas list. If that’s the case, I want to take a minute to suggest that you give the most boring gift of all.
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